Friday, July 9, 2010

Smooth Sailing


Chapter 29 is full of words indicating the resolution of the novel. It starts off, "In the morning it was all over. The fiesta was finished." Everything has died down after the bullfights. The waiters aren't in a hurry, Jake sits "comfortably" in the wicker chairs, and we are reminded yet again that the "fiesta was over." It's as if the energy and excitement that came about with the fiesta has been drained out of the city and replaced with a calm atmosphere. People are "walking" not hurrying. When Jake got out of the cab by the hotel he "rubbed the rod-case through the dust [on the car]. It seemed the last thing that connected [him] with Spain and the fiesta" (pg 236). This seems fitting; it's like the expression goes- leaving it in the dust.

Jake seems at ease when he drinks a bottle of wine for company and swims in the sea all day. One never would know the craziness of the fiesta, the injuries of the war, or the burdens on his heart the way Jake calmly strolls around. He casually drinks it away.

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